Climate warming is driving a rapid transformation of polar ecosystems, and we urgently need to study the vulnerability of seafloor biodiversity to changes that are already underway.

Our project examines the fundamental questions: what is Arctic security? What should policy makers anticipate that the circumpolar world will look like in the future, given the various forces that are now transforming this region?

Some implications of climate change for the marine Arctic ecosystem are fairly intuitive. For instance, polar bears and ringed seals are bound to be negatively impacted by the loss of ice that provides the physical platform for their hunting and reproduction. Other consequences are less obvious.

Using in-depth case studies, this project will identify and characterize the vulnerability of food systems in four regional Inuit centers (RIC) (Iqaluit, Arviat, Inuvik and Kuujjuak) to climate change as a basis for identifying adaptation entry points.

Seasonal changes in the northern landscape, together with extreme weather events, can create instability and hazards, including flooding, landslides, thaw failure and subsidence, coastal ice push, storm surges, and coastal erosion. Our project team is measuring both the drivers of change and the effects of instability in community landscapes at selected sites across the Arctic.

A study of the absorption and release of carbon dioxide by the Arctic Ocean.

Research on Arctic marine mammals via the collection of detailed empirical information throughout Canadian Arctic marine ecosystems, using a variety of methods including both scientific and local knowledge.